![]() You would be shocked at the energy wastefulness of the average home, the average city, and the average person. Energy is not infinite. The sun is not always up to give its heat, it isn’t always raining, and food is not always ready for harvesting. There is a limited amount of energy provided at any one time and if we are going to be clever, we need to catch whatever comes our way and keep it there. No use catching a fish if you toss it back. No use complaining about drought when you let all your rain wash away when you get it. No use complaining about hunger when you don’t preserve your harvest when you have it. Much of permaculture is catching and storing some type of energy, particularly water. In some areas, this is more critical than others, but when it comes to growing food, you’re largest limiting factor is water. Decomposition needs a certain amount of water, so without water you cannot build soil. Swales, keyline systems, and mulching are all methods of catching and storing water. Swales slow water down so it can soak more into the soil and reduce erosion. Keyline moves water throughout a landscape for optimal absorption and use. Mulching prevents evaporation seen on barren soil. You can catch and store sunlight with plants by creating “suntraps.” In cold climates, this is particularly beneficial because it creates areas that are able to use more sunlight and keep it there for a longer period of time. Passive solar greenhouses do this as well. They catch sunlight and store the heat in thermal mass that slowly releases the heat over time. Rocket stoves trap heat from burning wood in brick or cob structures, like benches, that also function as thermal mass. If you have an energy source, find out how you can catch it, store it, and use it in as many ways as possible before it is gone. This is practicality. When you get a job, you have a salary, and that salary only goes so far. It makes complete sense to make those dollars you earned go as far as you possibly can. In the long run, you’ll be richer for it, and not as reliant on outside energies. Heat, water, and soil are like money. If you think of it that way, you will hesitate to be as wasteful with it as you were before. You will look at water running down a street and cry at the waste. Cheese is an example of catching and storing energy. Milk is one of the more perishable food items that will come into your homestead. Cheese is one of the best ways to take that milk and store it in a stable form for future use. Practicality at its tastiest. You may not have milk in winter, or when the cow is dry, but you will have the cheese. Catch the energy when you have it and later you can use it when you need it. ![]() This begins a short series on the twelve permaculture principles. These are concepts and ethics that permaculture strives to adhere to and encourage. I will give short summaries on each principle. I hope that you will come to understand more about what permaculture is and its general ideology. It is an ecological science, but like any science, permaculture is hollow without ethical rules. These principles give meaning to an otherwise callous system. The first principle is on careful observation combined with interaction. Observing nature is the beginning and the end of permaculture. It seems rather trite. Go look at stuff. However, permaculture, and science as a whole, would not exist without observation. And like Sherlock Holmes would say, many people see, but do not observe. There is a difference. I have driven past a farm almost every day for three years, and I saw the trees on the fence lines, but I did not observe until just a couple days ago that the trees all leaned to one side. A sign of the prevailing winds. How could I not see that? Nature is the teacher, and it is a teacher we know very little about. Take soil for example. There are tens of billions of microorganisms in just tablespoons of soil. But how many of those microorganisms can we culture in a lab? About 1%. That is a serious hindrance to the field of microbiology. Practically all we know about soil is that it works. How, we don’t know. It’s just that complicated. However, when it comes to making soil, we can observe how to do that. Composting is essentially making soil really fast. Bottom line, if we want to learn how to do something, we need to observe how nature already does it. God created a glorious place for us and in it He designed everything it needs. We make problems when we think we can do it better than the Designer. If we want to give credit to ourselves, and credit to the earth we are called to steward, we must endeavor to observe objectively. That is the essence of permaculture theory and one reason why I consider it an ecological science. Observe and interact with nature. Learn how it works. Copy what it does. People noticed that apple trees grew much better with nasturtiums. I do not have to be a professor to know that is a good thing. You do not have to be a scientist to observe what goes on around you. Native Americans and ancient cultures the world over discovered the medicinal benefits of some plants a lot of us in America consider weeds and actively seek to kill. The poster child for this: dandelions. If you want to engage in permaculture, you must put aside cultural prejudices or the thought that you know how it is and look at what is really there. You have to look at things like a child, with a child’s openness. That is the only way to learn and see what you might otherwise miss. Observe and interact, like a child. That is permaculture. |
Rebecca Burrow
I am a Christian permie designer trying to spread the word about Christian land stewardship through permaculture. I like goats a lot. Maaaaaaaah. Archives
September 2016
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